Bubonic Brewery

I revisited the Skeleton Key Lime Soda formula I had before…it bugged me. It tasted okay, but it just wasn’t…right. It was too limey, and didn’t elicit the mental image of pie, just of limeade that knew somebody…

So, back to the drawing board. What makes a good Key Lime Pie what it is? Part of it is definitely the wonderfully tart filling, made with the juice of the Key Lime, which can’t be compared with any other flavor. But the rest is the mellow, smooth, cinnamon-brown sugar-vanilla flavor of the graham-cracker crust. Without that crust flavor, it’s just lime soda, it isn’t pie.

Off to the Bubonic Brewhaus…okay, the kitchen. I whip up a simple syrup base, then add cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, a dollop of table syrup, and real vanilla extract. I let the syrup simmer for a good twenty minutes, to extract a lot of good cinnamon flavor from the sticks. Then I remove them, and add to a half-gallon of cool water in my mixing keg. (Cleaned and sanitized, of course!) I seal it and shake to dissolve the syrup in the water, then taste. Mmmmm, it definitely elicits the warm, buttery graham-cracker flavor! In goes the rest of the water, warm this time, up to the four liter mark. Another taste, still good flavor, a good cinnamon/brown sugar cream soda base in itself.

Now for the Key Lime filling! We’re back to the same juice I used before, 5 oz. of it this time, tasting between each ounce for acid balance, tartness, and flavor. At the 5 oz. point, it matched well, but lacked a bottom note, so I added 1/4 tsp of Cream of Tartar, which rounded out the bottom of the acidic note. After agitation, I pitched 1/2 tsp of bloomed Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast, let it sit for two hours so the yeast could get a good, solid grip, then decanted into two sterilized 2L PET bottles.

After 48 hours of room-temperature natural fermentation, the bottles were rock-hard, so they went into the fridge. I let them condition for another 3 days before tasting, and was pleasantly surprised!

The first flavor was that of the Key Lime “filling”, tart and refreshing. But once that had been swallowed, the taste of the graham-cracker “crust” lingered on for a long while afterward, rounding out the whole pie taste metaphor.

Winner! Now to see if it’ll repeat with a force-carbonated diet version!

Skeleton Key Lime Pie Soda

• 2C Cane Sugar
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tblsp table syrup (or dark corn syrup)
• 2 2-inch cinnamon sticks
• 1 cup water for simple syrup
• 5 oz. Key Lime juice
• 1/4 tsp. Cream of Tartar
• 1/2 tsp. Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast (or desired equivalent), bloomed in 4oz warm water with 1/2 tsp sugar for 1/2 hour
• 4 liters water to fill brewing container

Combine sugar, brown sugar, table syrup, cinnamon, and 1C water in saucepan over low heat and stir constantly until sugar is all dissolved. Simmer for 20-30 minutes to extract flavor and aroma from cinnamon. Remove cinnamon sticks.

Add half the 4 liters of water to the brewing container, add hot syrup. Close container and agitate to dissolve syrup. Add remaining water, agitate again. Taste cream soda base to make sure it meets approval. Add key lime juice and cream of tartar, mix thoroughly.

Pitch bloomed yeast, let sit for 1 to 2 hours to allow yeast to get over pitching shock, then decant into sanitized 2-liter plastic bottles. Allow to ferment at room temperature until bottles are rock-hard, then chill thoroughly before opening.

If using CO2 system to force-carbonate, omit yeast and fermentation steps, and follow carbonation system instructions.

My latest foray into sodafication (hmmm…neat word) was after acquiring a bottle of pomegranate juice concentrate. This juice is a dietary supplement, very sweet and flavorful, intended to be mixed with water or other beverages — so I decided to try incorporating it as a flavoring.

I made a 4-liter batch of cola, using my standard Rainbow cola extract, available at practically any brewing supply house or online. I like to add a small amount of Cream of Tartar, to improve acid balance and aid in carbonation retention. The first batch used sugar and Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast, with no other additives. It carbonated quickly, and made a very tasty drink.

Then I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, and decided it was time to try a sugar-free soda. I can’t tolerate aspartame, so Splenda was the next option to try. I know there are other options, including Stevia, but those will have to wait for another batch, and a trip to the specialty store. I can get Splenda at the grocery store.

I made another batch, slightly smaller (I had a handy 3-liter bottle I wanted to use, though I did add another half-liter for a 500ml test bottle) than the sugared batch. In this batch, I substituted 1 1/2 cups of Splenda for the cane sugar in the recipe, except for 3 tablespoons for yeast carbonation. Between that and the small amount of sugar from the pomegranate syrup, the actual sugar in the beverage should be negligible after the yeast has gotten done with it. The base, prior to carbonation, tasted quite good, and I’m pleased with it. We’ll see how it turns out in a few days.

Pomegranate Bubonicola, Regular

• 2 1/4 cups cane sugar
• 1 tbsp Rainbow Brand Cola Extract (adjust to taste)
• 1 oz. Jarrow Formulas’ Pomegranate Juice Concentrate
• 1/4 tsp. Cream of Tartar
• 1/2 tsp Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast, bloomed in 1/2 tsp cane sugar and 1/2 cup warm water

My water presents some slight difficulties for yeast, so I use a slightly larger quantity than usual. Adjust for your conditions. If you use bottled water, aeration is highly recommended, or oxygen infusion if possible. I don’t like the results I’ve had with bottled water, so I use my tap water, and adjust the yeast.

The sugar is dissolved in 1 qt hot water in a 1 1/4 gallon spigot-tapped container. Both extracts and cream of tartar are added. Combine thoroughly. Warm water is added to the 4 liter level, then the vessel is closed tightly and agitated for complete combination and aeration. I drew a small amount from the spigot to a disposable cup to taste, adjusted acid and extract levels to taste.

Yeast should be “bloomed” in warm water. I use a small amount of sugar to kick it into high gear. I use Premier Cuvee during the winter because it has a lower fermentation temperature, but in the warmer months, Lalvin EC-1118 or Red Star Champagne is acceptable.

Then add, or “pitch” the yeast, and agitate to combine thoroughly. I let the entire vessel sit for an hour or so, for the yeast to get a good “grip” on the mix, then use the spigot to dispense into clean, sterilized 2 liter bottles.

The Diet version is made precisely the same, except:

Substitute Splenda sweetener for all but 3 tablespoons of the cane sugar. A small amount of real sugar is necessary for the yeast to eat in order to carbonate the liquid. If no sugar is used at all, the yeast will die and the soda will be flat. Of course, if you have a CO2 tank, regulators, and appropriate valves, you can force-carbonate, and do without yeast — and sugar — completely.

The diet version is carbonating nicely, if a tad slowly, on my kitchen table. I will post the results later.

Update: The diet version was flat as a strap. I even put it in the fermenter box — a styrofoam cooler with a Brew Pad heater inside, with a Controller II thermostat keeping it at 75 degrees for 3 days, and it still didn’t get more than a gasp of gas in it. So…

Off to Keystone Homebrew I went, to finally knuckle under and get the force-carbonation system I’ve been procrastinating about. It’s actually a full beer kegging system, including a used 5-gallon Cornelius keg and a picnic tap, but I didn’t need those for this stage. Instead, I needed a couple of Carbonator Caps, a wonderful gadget that lets you carbonate directly in a 2-liter PET bottle (or one that uses the same size cap) by clicking on a Cornelius-style ball-lock quick-disconnect. It included a 5-lb tank of CO2 (the weight of the liquefied gas, not the tank), regulator, hoses, disconnects, even replacement O-rings for the corny-keg…which I will eventually use, but not right now.

After assembly, I tested it with cold tap water and quickly made some fresh seltzer. It works! Huzzah! So I funnelled my soda into a 2-liter bottle (and a handy 1-liter bottle), spun on the carbonator caps, purged out the air, and cranked in 35 psi of CO2. Shake well for a couple of minutes, close the pressure, then shake some more to “scour” the headspace of residual gas. Then I let it sit for a while to settle, whipped off the carbonators, and spun on regular caps. Then let sit some more.

Then pour over ice. OOooooohhhh! Thick, foamy head, lots of fizz, a winner! And the flavor is delightful, even with Splenda sweetener. So two wins — a force-carbonation system and a diet version of Pomegranate Bubonicola!